This poem was translated by Professor Carlo Coppola as part of the MULOSIGE Translations project. You can explore our collection of Urdu Poetry here.

Professor Carlo Coppola, Oakland University

Tum āʼe ho nah / You haven’t come

You haven’t come; the night of waiting hasn’t passed; 

Dawn looks about; it’s passed by again and again.

.

Whatever has happened in our madness, it happened usefully, 

Although a thousand evils have happened to the heart.

.

The night in which the conversation with the nasi took place 

Certainly, passed in the lane of the beloved.

.

That talkwhich was not at all mentioned in the entire 

Storywas the very unbearable thing to her.

.

Roses have not bloomed, nor have we met her; the wine is not drunk; 

This year spring has passed in a very strange way.

.

God only knows what happened in the garden during the plunder of the flower-picker!

Today, the breeze passed through the cage so restlessly.

.

.

From: Dast-i ṣabā (Hand of the Wind). Dihlī: Senṭral Buk Ḍipo, 1952. pp. 41 – 42

             

You haven’t come; the night of waiting hasn’t passed; 

Dawn looks about; it’s passed by again and again.

.

Whatever has happened in our madness, it happened usefully, 

Although a thousand evils have happened to the heart.

.

The night in which the conversation with the nasi took place 

Certainly, passed in the lane of the beloved.

.

That talkwhich was not at all mentioned in the entire 

Storywas the very unbearable thing to her.

.

Roses have not bloomed, nor have we met her; the wine is not drunk; 

This year spring has passed in a very strange way.

.

God only knows what happened in the garden during the plunder of the flower-picker!

Today, the breeze passed through the cage so restlessly.

.

.

From: Dast-i ṣabā (Hand of the Wind). Dihlī: Senṭral Buk Ḍipo, 1952. pp. 41 – 42